ZEISS Launches Digital Myopia Management Platform in Partnership with HealthCloud to Drive Digital Transformation in Myopia Control

September 7, 2023The 27th China National Congress of Ophthalmology of the Chinese Medical Association (CCOS 2023)The conference officially opened at the Changsha International Convention Center and the Changsha International Exhibition Center. This event was hosted by the Chinese Medical Association and the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, organized by the Hunan Medical Association and the Ophthalmology Professional Committee of the Hunan Medical Association, and co-organized by Xiangya Hospital of Central South University.

This conference is the first national ophthalmology academic conference held since the pandemic prevention and control entered a new phase. It has gathered ophthalmic elites from across China and even around the world. Through various forms such as academic discussions and new technology exchanges, it aims to jointly advance innovation and development in ophthalmology. It also represents an important opportunity to enhance the academic level and international influence of ophthalmology in China.

On the first day of the conference, Carl Zeiss officially launched the myopia management platform — ZEISS Myopia Workplace Essentials — built on digital advantages.

Maximilian Foerst, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss Greater China, stated: "As a pioneer in optics, Carl Zeiss has always been at the forefront of the industry and has been actively involved in myopia prevention and control for children and adolescents over the long term. The launch of this digital myopia management platform and our collaboration with Health Cloud represent a significant step in integrating various strengths and exploring the Internet + Healthcare model."

What is the current status of myopia development among children and adolescents in China? What innovations does the digital and visual Zeiss Myopia Management Platform offer? And how can it help improve the current state of myopia among children and adolescents? Regarding these questions, VCBeat interviewed Ms. Wang Wei, the head of Carl Zeiss's myopia prevention and control project during the conference.

Wang Wei, Head of Carl Zeiss Myopia Prevention and Control Project

According to data released by the National Health Commission of China, the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents in China was 52.7% in 2020, with 14.3% for 6-year-old children, 35.6% for primary school students, 71.1% for junior high school students, and 80.5% for senior high school students. The myopia rate doubles as age increases.

Against this severe situation, on August 30, the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration issued the "Public Health Comprehensive Intervention Technical Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"). The "Guidelines" propose myopia intervention technologies for children and adolescents, adopting a three-level prevention strategy to implement comprehensive public health intervention measures, aiming to prevent, reduce, and slow down the occurrence and development of myopia among children and adolescents.

Specifically, the primary prevention in the "Guidelines" includes monitoring, evaluation, and intervention of myopia risk behaviors. Secondary prevention focuses on two aspects: vision health screening and myopia early warning management, emphasizing the strengthening of myopia grading management to achieve early warning, early detection, and early diagnosis. Tertiary prevention mainly involves scientifically correcting myopia and preventing the progression and complications of severe myopia.

So, how to monitor, evaluate, and intervene in myopia risk behaviors to achieve early warning, early detection, and early diagnosis?

Due to the long-term and multi-stage nature of the entire myopia prevention and control process, hospitals, clinics, optometry centers, and other related institutions often play a crucial role in the overall myopia prevention and control chain. They are responsible for comprehensive eye health examinations, myopia progression prediction, intervention plan formulation, intervention plan implementation, follow-up tracking, and more.

However, as the first line of defense in scientific prevention and control, many medical institutions still face the issue of inefficiency with traditional paper-based information management. The "2023 China Children and Adolescents Myopia Prevention and Control Trend Report" shows,Over 93% of doctors indicated that when seeing patients, their refractive archives had varying degrees of "unusable" issues.

Therefore, the unified management of dispersed data generated by multiple projects and devices, and using this as the basis for precise prevention and scientific diagnosis and treatment, is the only way to improve the level of myopia prevention and control.

According to reports,Carl Zeiss Myopia Management Platform Assists Medical Institutions in Establishing Full-Process Efficient Myopia Management with Six Key Advantages: An Open and Compatible Connection Platform, Digital Recording of Test Results, Visualized Myopia Management Tracking, Personalized Intervention Plan Presentation, Simple and Flexible Interface Operation, and Multi-Level Data Security Protection, Benefiting Hospitals, Doctors, and Patients.

By virtue ofInternational Standard DICOM Data Transmission MethodCarl Zeiss Myopia Management Platform can打通多设备数据脉络within hospitals, allowing myopia information management to cover a wider scope and achieve information interoperability within and across multiple hospital branches. Wang Wei introduced: "Carl Zeiss has designed the myopia control platform as an open and compatible platform, suitable not only for large tertiary hospitals and eye specialty hospitals with many devices but also for small and medium-sized medical institutions and private hospitals."

At the same time, the platform can completely and accurately record and store key information from eye examinations, manage ocular health data informatively, turning static records into dynamic ones, and provide data support for doctors to offer timely, personalized, and targeted prevention and control plans.Wang Wei introduced: "Carl Zeiss AG Participates in the Release of "Myopia Prevention and Control Trend Report for Chinese Children and Adolescents" for the Third Consecutive Year, continuously calling for the establishment of digital refractive development records. The myopia management platform will help establish and further improve the digital refractive development records for myopia prevention and control, which will play a positive role in predicting the increase of myopia among children and adolescents and assisting doctors in improving work efficiency."

Not only that, but through the Carl Zeiss Myopia Management Platform, detection results can be transmitted and accessed with one click, allowing doctors to digitally track patients' myopia information more efficiently and continuously. This improves overall diagnostic efficiency and enhances doctor-patient communication and compliance. Doctors can also record and complete personalized intervention plans and processes within the platform, presenting them in a visual and digital format. This not only aids in myopia prevention and control but also promotes communication and education efforts with patients and their parents, further enhancing patients' eye health literacy.

"Relying on the myopia management platform released this time, Carl Zeiss has also launched a pilot cooperation for remote interconnection with Health Cloud. This strong collaboration aims to enhance the quality and efficiency of myopia prevention and control, helping to improve the eye health of children and adolescents," Wang Wei introduced to VCBeat.

Health Cloud has built-in functions such as "Refractive Archive Query," "Internet Hospital," and "Health Self-Assessment." Through Health Cloud, doctors can more efficiently conduct diagnosis, tracking, and follow-up work, effectively addressing issues of an irregular follow-up system and the challenges of long-term patient management. It also further clarifies the myopia prevention and control pathway. Meanwhile, patients can independently understand the development trend of myopia, avoid repeated testing, reduce treatment costs, and achieve a better medical experience.

When talking about why to cooperate with Health Cloud, Wang Wei said: "Based on Health Cloud's insight into the local market and its capabilities in ‘Internet +’, we hope to promote the interconnection between higher-level hospitals and lower-level hospitals, and facilitate senior doctors to provide timely help and guidance to grassroots doctors and young doctors."

The cooperation between the two parties will not only help to solve problems in myopia prevention and control work, such as insufficient grassroots outreach, low parental engagement, non-standard follow-up systems, and the lack of comprehensive services truly centered around patients.It also promotes the application of the "Internet + healthcare" model in the field of ophthalmology, establishing an efficient system for the entire process management of myopia "prevention-control-treatment."。

At the meeting, Yang Haiyan, President of Health Cloud (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co., Ltd., emphasized: "Health Cloud has rich experience in big data of ophthalmic records and the integration of artificial intelligence. The deep integration with Carl Zeiss AG's myopia management platform will further help drive ophthalmic diagnosis and treatment into a new digital phase, providing high-quality services and long-term support for national eye health."

Ms. Yang Haiyan, President of Health Cloud (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

The integration of the advantages of Health Cloud public services with Carl Zeiss' hardware and software technological innovations will further enhance the overall myopia prevention and control solution of "hardware + software + services," unleash the potential of the Carl Zeiss Myopia Management Platform, promote the integration of in-hospital and out-of-hospital, online and offline service scenarios, and improve the medical treatment experience for doctors and patients.

References:

1. "2023 China Children and Adolescent Myopia Prevention and Control Trend Report" - Shanghai Association for Science and Technology et al.

2. Carl Zeiss Launches Digital Myopia Management Platform, Partners with Health Cloud to Explore New Prevention and Control Models - Carl Zeiss